The Dark Knight Rises - Pre-release Discussion [** NO SPOILERS PLEASE **]

Duggy747

I'm not a fan of Hathaway, always found her to be on the plain side.

That being said, I was skeptical of "pretty boy" Ledger donning the role of The Joker and.....................well, he fùckin' nailed it.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, though.

JP Liz V1

Kess73 wrote: »

Everyone seems to be missing what was actually said in the Warner Borothers press release though. Both the WB reps and Nolan have not said the word Catwoman at any time. They keep saying Selina Kyle.

The WB rep guy when asked for conformation that Anne Hathaway was Catwoman responded with "Anne Hathaway will be playing the part of Selina Kyle". There was no reply confirming that she will be Catwoman in the film.


Yes Selina Kyle is Catwoman in the comics, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Nolan has something else in mind for the character of Selina Kyle, as I mentioned earlier in my curveball post.

That is true but nearly all websites are saying Hathaway has got the role of Catwoman

I am more surprised that the character of Selina/Catwoman is in the film than Hathaway getting the role

the whole year inn

Im going in with low expections from here,same as maggie gyllenhaal,she wasnt anything great in the Dark Knight and wasnt expecting much from her either.

Duggy747

gob_smacked wrote: »

Im going in with low expections from here,same as maggie gyllenhaal,she wasnt anything great in the Dark Knight and wasnt expecting much from her either.

No, she didn't have a remarkable part but, good grief, she was miles better than Katie Holmes. She annoyed me in BB with her bitter and constant "who farted" face on her.

Kess73

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

That is true but nearly all websites are saying Hathaway has got the role of Catwoman

I am more surprised that the character of Selina/Catwoman is in the film than Hathaway getting the role

Yeah but the only two sources that matter, Nolan and WB, have not mentioned her being Catwoman at all.


Given that she is playing Selina Kyle then chances are that she will be Catwoman, but the almost pointed manner that neither WB nor Nolan keep referring to her as playing Selina Kyle when asked if she is playing Catwoman keeps that nagging feeling that Nolan's Selina Kyle will either be Azrael-esque in some way, or the name will be used as an alias by Talia al Ghul.


I would have preferred to have seen Eva Green in the role if indeed it turns out to be catwoman, but I like Hathaway, both as an actress and aesthetically, so I have high hopes for her regardless of how Nolan decides to use the character.

Handsome Bob

Kess73 wrote: »

or the name will be used as an alias by Talia al Ghul.

I think such a move could well go down like a lead balloon with both the general audience and fans. :pac:

seraphimvc

did i hear anyone saying bad words on maggie gyllenhaal??? maggie gyllenhaal is AWESOME!!!

i am thinking anne hathaway maybe is just another rachel, mixed up with some catwoman element :pac:

the whole year inn

Yea it was me you got a problem!:D

seraphimvc

now go watch Secretary and tell me how you feel!!

feelpablo

as it has been said allready, i'll be waiting for a more in depth anouncement from mr.nolan because

A: all we know at the moment are who he has cast in two major roles and the characters names, Selina Kyle..catwoman was NOT confirmed even if it is her alias!!

B:we need to put aside what we allready know about the characters from the comics and graphic novels to one side as has been shown in TDK and wait and see how they will be moulded into Nolans universe

That is all

aidan_walsh

In fairness, they never said they were going to do Two-Face in preproduction either. Eckhart's role was always just listed as Harvey Dent, and it wasn't really until the final trailer came out that Two-Face was confirmed.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Catwoman at all. Given that this is confirmed the last movie in Nolan's trilogy, I'd probably be more surprised not to see her in some respect.

krudler

pixelburp wrote: »

You'd think after Heath Ledger, people would be less reactionary & quick to dismiss the casting of Hathaway in hyperbolic terms. Oh well, guess the internet doesn't learn

Early 2007 "Ledger?! he'll ruin the joker, Nolan has lost the plot, rabble rabble"
Summer 2008 "Ledger! best joker ever, amazing, give him an Oscar!"

Hathaway can act, watch Brokeback Mountain for evidence of that.

DirkVoodoo

Frankly I don't care who Nolan includes in the final film, as long as it maintains the consistently excellent standards of it's predecessors.

Let's not fudge all this up with a Spiderman 3 studio fudge-up!

And Anne Hathaway, hot as fook! Stick a set of cat ears on her and there won't be a dry seat in the house.

I rest my case....I mean, case closed:

Kess73

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I think such a move could well go down like a lead balloon with both the general audience and fans. :pac:

With fans I could see how it would go down badly, but I don't think it would have much impact on the general public who would not have loved the graphic novels in the same way.


A twist like Selina Kyle being an alter ego of Talia al Ghul would work on the general public as long as it was down in a belieable manner. Plus given that Talia, in the comics, is meant to be an olympic class athlete in terms of physical conditioning it would not be hard for her to have a lycra wearing alter ego in Nolan land.

The idea of Talia living a double life as Selina Kyle whilst have her alter ego live a double life as catwoman may be just the kind of thing that might appeal to Nolan.

Personally I hope she is not used in that manner because I like the Selina Kyle character in the comics when she is written in the manner she was in the various Hush tie ins.

It is just Bane being the main foe makes it interesting as Nolan does like to take a lot of his cues from certain graphic novels, so with Bane and Ra's al Ghul having a working alliance at one time, Nolan may want to link an al Ghul with Bane in some manner.

Of course we could still have Talia al Ghul in the film as a totally seperate person with nowt to do with Selina, in which case Nolan can bring my original choice for the Selina role, Eva Green, in as Talia.


I have a feeling that whoever mentioned the Knightfall trilogy earlier may be spot on with it being the inspiration for this film. As I said myself earlier I think either that storyline or the Legacy storyline will be the rough guide to the film. But we have tons of time to chew the fat on this film, and with Nolan at the helm I have no fears in how it wil turn out.

GSPfan

Wonder if we will get any recast of The Joker. I liked the way The scarecrow was used in a minor role in TDK. I was hoping to see The Joker locked up in Arkham in a dark room or something.

Oh and lets not forget that The Batman is the villain in this movie. :cool: He's a mur-dur-diddly-urderler.

Basq

krudler wrote: »

Early 2007 "Ledger?! he'll ruin the joker, Nolan has lost the plot, rabble rabble"
Summer 2008 "Ledger! best joker ever, amazing, give him an Oscar!"

Hathaway can act, watch Brokeback Mountain for evidence of that.

I would..






.. but Ledger was terrible in it! :P :pac:

Kess73

GSPfan wrote: »

Wonder if we will get any recast of The Joker. I liked the way The scarecrow was used in a minor role in TDK. I was hoping to see The Joker locked up in Arkham in a dark room or something.

Oh and lets not forget that The Batman is the villain in this movie. :cool: He's a mur-dur-diddly-urderler.

Nolan has said that the Joker will not be revisited in any way, and that no stock footage of Ledger in the role will be used in the new film.

johnny_ultimate

fluke wrote: »

People keep giving out about Anne Hathaway, and sure she stars in a lot of fluffy movies but Rachel Getting Married proved to me that the girl has acting chops.

Give her a chance.

Almost forgot about Rachel Getting Married, the girl gives it socks in that wonderful little film.

Again, I can only reiterate that I think Anne Hathaway is a good actress who unfortunately is often stuck in absolute muck. She gave a good performance in Love & Other Drugs, only let down by the fact that the film was a load o'crap. I'd lump her in with a few others (Kristen Bell springs to mind) who has occasionally shown great talent only to choose the most generic Hollywood rubbish, and unfortunately comes to be known as the '****ty rom-com girl' as opposed to the 'talented actress who is often the ****ty rom-com girl'. We'll see, but under talented directors she has managed to shine, and throwing Chris Nolan into the mix hardly fills me with pessimism. I think much of the ire is directed at the idea of Catwoman as opposed to Hathaway, and as has been mentioned perhaps Catwoman is careful misdirection. I trust the creative crew not to simply throw her in there for no particular reason though.

And she's hardly unattractive either. She's no Natalie Portman, but she does have a strange sort of charm about her.

Busi_Girl08

Also, let's face it. Nolan is no idiot. He has done AMAZING things over the last few years (Batman Begins, Dark Knight, Inception), with (bar Ellen Page) some brilliant casting. He obviously saw something in Ledger that a lot of us didn't.

I've every confidence in him and his choices.

As for AH's role, as others have pointed out, she will be Selina Kyle, not Catwoman. So either she might change at the very end, or it never happens. (If the former, I would love to see a slow, harrowing process of her being driven deeper and deeper into insanity, possibly egged on by Bane?)

Sad Professor

I think two biggest potential stumbling blocks with Catwoman is (1) overplaying her sex appeal as it lends itself quite easily to camp - see the Halle Berry film, and (2) overplaying her strength - think Angelina Jolie in Salt having fist fights with men several times her size and weight. Given the almost sexless nature of Nolan's previous films, I don't think we need to worry about number 1. And after all the effort he made in the first two films to inject some verisimilitude into the Batman universe, it's hard to believe he'll make the second mistake either.

So overall we're probably going to see a Catwoman much closer to the early comics. i.e. a burglar and jewel thief. But that strikes me as a bit underwhelming and not exactly super-villain territory. In which case, what purpose will she serve in the story other than that of a love interest?

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Nolan might be inspired by Burton's take on Catwoman in some way, either. The tragic love story between Bruce and Selina in that film was really well done imo. Like all the villains in that film, Burton used Catwoman to say something about Batman.

missingtime

Sad Professor wrote: »

I think two biggest potential stumbling blocks with Catwoman is (1) overplaying her sex appeal as it lends itself quite easily to camp - see the Halle Berry film, and (2) overplaying her strength - think Angelina Jolie in Salt having fist fights with men several times her size and weight. Given the almost sexless nature of Nolan's previous films, I don't think we need to worry about number 1. And after all the effort he made in the first two films to inject some verisimilitude into the Batman universe, it's hard to believe he'll make the second mistake either.

So overall we're probably going to see a Catwoman much closer to the early comics. i.e. a burglar and jewel thief. But that strikes me as a bit underwhelming and not exactly super-villain territory. In which case, what purpose will she serve in the story other than that of a love interest?

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Nolan might be inspired by Burton's take on Catwoman in some way, either. The tragic love story between Bruce and Selina in that film was really well done imo. Like all the villains in that film, Burton used Catwoman to say something about Batman.

Verisimilitude (or truthlikeness) is the quality of realism in something (such as film, literature, the arts, etc)

Never seen that word before

As someone who was very sceptical of Ledgers casting in TDK, I am going to stay schtum on my view of the casting.
Would have liked Marion Cotillard myself for Selina Kyle but im sure Nolan will bring across his view without too much hassle.

I know Nolan and Bale said they were only signing on for three movies, but it seems there is such a huge amount of story arcs that they could take with this whole Knightfall saga, potentially leaving it open for more movies.

JP Liz V1

Kess73 wrote: »

Yeah but the only two sources that matter, Nolan and WB, have not mentioned her being Catwoman at all.


Given that she is playing Selina Kyle then chances are that she will be Catwoman, but the almost pointed manner that neither WB nor Nolan keep referring to her as playing Selina Kyle when asked if she is playing Catwoman keeps that nagging feeling that Nolan's Selina Kyle will either be Azrael-esque in some way, or the name will be used as an alias by Talia al Ghul.


I would have preferred to have seen Eva Green in the role if indeed it turns out to be catwoman, but I like Hathaway, both as an actress and aesthetically, so I have high hopes for her regardless of how Nolan decides to use the character.

I really cant see Selina Kyle being in the film and not being Catwoman

Does anyone else think he might add another villian or is the script already finished?

Kess73

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I really cant see Selina Kyle being in the film and not being Catwoman

Does anyone else think he might add another villian or is the script already finished?

Yep I do think that there will be at least a second villain in the picture to act as a foil to Bane.

If they go down the road of having Knightfall as an influence, then we may see Bane pulling the strings from the background for the first half of the film, using other lesser villains to allow him to watch Batman in action.


And if they use Legacy as some form of inspiration for the film then there will be the al Ghul connection to Bane along with one or two others that featured in small roles during that storyline.

Handsome Bob

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I really cant see Selina Kyle being in the film and not being Catwoman

Does anyone else think he might add another villian or is the script already finished?

Well I'd put it this way; I don't think this film is done in regards to major casting news. For one, there's still one more significant female role yet to be announced (apparently).

irish_stevo815

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Well I'd put it this way; I don't think this film is done in regards to major casting news. For one, there's still one more significant female role yet to be announced (apparently).

If so, I would love to see Harley Quinn in, to carry on the Joker's work. Saying that, Anne Hathaway could make that role work. Either way, I can see Catwoman being like Two-Face in TDK - she will just be Selina Kyle for most of the movie, and have some relationship to Bruce Wayne, but becoming Catwoman at some stage through the movie. Hero or Villain, now that is the question?

Kess73

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Well I'd put it this way; I don't think this film is done in regards to major casting news. For one, there's still one more significant female role yet to be announced (apparently).

My money is on it being Talia al Ghul (if Nolan does not try the Kyle/al Ghul curveball):D


Eva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva GreenEva Green

Handsome Bob

I reckon it's going to be Naomi Watts, hopefully for the role of Sarah Essen, and not Vicki Vale. Talia is still a real possibility too. IMO Bane is hired muscle regardless of how smarter he is than B&R led us to believe, and I could well see Talia as being the one that hires him.

Kess73

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I reckon it's going to be Naomi Watts, hopefully for the role of Sarah Essen, and not Vicki Vale. Talia is still a real possibility too. IMO Bane is hired muscle regardless of how smarter he is than B&R led us to believe, and I could well see Talia as being the one that hires him.

If Nolan uses the source material for Bane and ignores the kid cartoon version, then Bane will not be hired muscle as he has never been just hired muscle in the comics. Bane is too interesting a character to have him just as a strong guy. He pretty much beats Batman in every department. Intelligence, fighting skills, detective skills, strength, and he has the added advantage of being totally sane unlike many of Batman's enemies so we would have Batman taking on a foe that he cannot outfight or outsmart.

He may get hired by Talia but I reckon he would still be the string puller.


Sarah Essen would be a cool character to have in it, even moreso with Naomi Watts playing the part,but they would have to twist her story somewhat as her biggest comic storyline is Joker related in No Man's Land, and Nolan has shown in the first two films that he likes to use the classic storylines as a loose template for each film. Plus having her in the film would require more screen time for Gordon and more Gary Oldman can only be a good thing.

irish_stevo815

Here's a quick rundown of Bane's character for anyone interested.
(From Empire: http://www.empireonline.com/features/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-batman-villain-bane/p1)

1. In the comics, Bane is a huge, physically pumped, extremely intelligent (usually) bad guy. In the film, he’ll be played by Tom Hardy, who might not have looked that buff when we last saw him in Inception, but who’s capable of piling on the muscle when needed – see his title role in Bronson.

2. Bane spent his childhood in a prison in the fictional Caribbean country of Santa Prisca, after his father fled from a life sentence imposed for revolutionary behaviour against the corrupt government and the authorities decided to imprison his son instead. Apparently no one told them this was a flagrant breach of habeas corpus and frowned upon in polite international society.

3. Bane killed his first man at 8, a criminal who wanted to use Bane as a funnel for information on the prison. The boyish villain kept a knife hidden in his cute li’l teddy bear Osito. But he wasn’t all about the murder! He also learned everything he could from books and other inmates, and worked out in the gym whenever possible. He also loved long walks on the beach, getting caught in the rain and becoming the overlord of the entire prison.

4. While in prison, Bane was subjected to trials of an experimental drug called Venom – not to be confused with any Marvel-owned alien substances of the same name. This almost killed our anti-hero, before granting him vastly greater physical strength – for as long as he kept taking it through pipes attached to his brain. Drugs: don’t do it, or you’ll end up with a head that looks like the Pompidou Centre.


5. Bane had heard of Batman in prison, and on escaping headed for Gotham (another place where “fear rules”) to seek out this mysterious figure. Rather than go straight for the Bat-throat, however, he just knocked down the walls of Arkham Asylum and let Batman spend a few months rounding up all his enemies. Again. Honestly, a hero’s work is never done.


6. Finally, Batman returned to his base, exhausted from three solid months of supervillain chasing, to find that Bane had figured out his secret identity and was at Wayne Manor waiting for him. Ooops. At that point, it was – as they say – on like Donkey Kong. Only things didn’t follow their normal pattern, and Bane calmly and efficiently broke Batman’s back across his knee. Holy paraplegia!
7. In Wayne’s absence, a sometime-ally called Azrael donned a super-Batsuit, managed to defeat Bane by severing those drug pipes into his head (Drugs: don’t do it!) and beat him half to death. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne was healed by supernatural means (of course) and was able to take the Bat-mantle back from his Bat-locum, who’d threatened to go Bat-**** crazy in any case.


8. Following his defeat, Bane was cleaned up from his Venom addiction in prison and became a good guy. We know, we know, that makes very little sense and feels like they were pandering to fans who’d decided they liked the big guy. Anyway, he and Batman even worked together on a few jobs to bring down Venom dealers who were threatening the city.


9. In a slightly more convincing development, Bane met Ra’s Al Ghul, who was impressed by the man’s intellect and appointed him his successor. The pair try to launch a plague on Gotham, which Batman obviously has to stop. More importantly, he obviously has to have a rematch with Bane that doesn’t end up with the Bat getting his ass kicked and his spine severed. Win!


10. So what can we expect from the film? Well, the “successor to Ra’s Al Ghul” thing would fit with Nolan’s Bat-world. But breaking Arkham open has been done, and the absence of the supernatural probably precludes actually breaking Batman’s actual back. Still, the plague story is possible, as is the distribution of a new drug – although both of those risk treading awfully close to the first film’s fear toxin. Maybe he’ll just be a really annoying multi-lingual guru teaching his own forms of meditation and calisthenics, eh?

Handsome Bob

Kess73 wrote: »

If Nolan uses the source material for Bane and ignores the kid cartoon version, then Bane will not be hired muscle as he has never been just hired muscle in the comics. Bane is too interesting a character to have him just as a strong guy. He pretty much beats Batman in every department. Intelligence, fighting skills, detective skills, strength, and he has the added advantage of being totally sane unlike many of Batman's enemies so we would have Batman taking on a foe that he cannot outfight or outsmart.

He may get hired by Talia but I reckon he would still be the string puller.


Sarah Essen would be a cool character to have in it, even moreso with Naomi Watts playing the part,but they would have to twist her story somewhat as her biggest comic storyline is Joker related in No Man's Land, and Nolan has shown in the first two films that he likes to use the classic storylines as a loose template for each film. Plus having her in the film would require more screen time for Gordon and more Gary Oldman can only be a good thing.

Listening to your musings do excite me, I hear what you're saying about Bane. If it works out well it could be a heart thumping chase movie.